This year’s Manchester Punk Festival was yet another sublime cacophony of smiles, sounds, and sozzles. As always, the organisers went above and beyond to make it an event to remember. The addition of even more styles of music, the addressing of previous years’ venue capacity issues, and the trial run of a new three-full-day format all enhanced what was already the obvious highlight of the UK festival calendar.

Rather than cover the event by way of endless stream of “and then I watched…., and they were good”, I thought it’d be great to shine a little light on some of the unsung heroes of festivals and live musical performance in general – the gig photographer. Seeing a wicked set of pictures can take you back to watching a band absolutely smash it or turn an idea of a punk rock road trip into a reality for next year. There’s always loads of great pictures of festivals too but it’s rare you get to see the work of (nearly) all the photographers in one place.

With that in mind I tracked down as many of the photographers covering Manchester Punk Festival as I possibly could; the idea being to showcase what they think to be their finest work from the event. Below, you’ll find their submissions, along with a few words from each about their experience of the festival and their work outside of documenting all things punk.

The Spanish shred-factory that is Andrenalized are allowing fans to stream a track from their forthcoming album, Operation Exodus. The tune chosen to tease the new release goes by the name “Operation Exodus: Part Two” and, true to form, is chocked full of phat riffage, soaring vocal melodies, and drum tracks that are best described as muy rapido. 

Operation Exodus is scheduled for release on La Agonia De Vivir Records on January 31, 2019.

If you can’t wait that long, check out “Operation Exodus: Part Two” below.

Hard-hitting multi-influenced, communal-side project, Coercion, have just announced that they will release their latest EP on December 7, 2017.  The effort is titled Veritas and will feature seven tracks of punk-inspired, metal-tinged rock.

The band contains members of Death By Stereo, Good Riddance, Ghost Parade, Fury 66, and The Lonely Kings.

Handling the business side of the release will be Bird Attack Records. They also helped Coercion with the distribution their first EP following their return from hiatus in 2016.

If you can’t wait until December 7, you can check out the two sample tracks from Veritas below.

LA punk rock quartet Emmer Effer have just released their latest EP. It’s titled Ben Beverly and all the necessary administrative duties are being handled by Bird Attack Records. The record features four tracks that have an unmistakable classic ’90s California sound. We reckon Ben Beverly will delight fans of Pennywise and 98 Mute.

You can check out the latest material from Emmer Effer below. The previous release from the band was their 2017 debut album From The Bottom Down.

Canadian technical skate punk unit Fullcount are allowing fans to stream their entire latest record, Part of the Game. The album features twelve blistering fast, shred-heavy tracks and has been released by Thousand Island Records in Canada and the US, Lockjaw and Mudcake Records in Europe, and Milestone Sounds in Japan.

You can check out Part of the Game below. As always, you should buy a copy if you like it and support great underground music.